LIMBONG: By the way, this song, it's by a band called Abe Vigoda. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes. RICHARD CASTELLANO: (As Peter Clemenza) It's a Sicilian message. JAMES CAAN: (As Sonny Corleone) What the hell is this? There is even a song called "Abe Vigoda Is Dead." It's morbid, but it's praise for a character who made a big impression as Sal Tessio, a mafia henchman in the first "Godfather" movie. There's a website called, and for years, all it had was a picture of him and the line, Abe Vigoda is alive. There's a Facebook and a Twitter feed called Abe Vigoda facts, dedicated to how old Abe Vigoda is. UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (As character) Yeah, Abe. If you listen closely, you can hear somebody go. But you can hear the people flipping out. He doesn't say anything, doesn't even do much. LIMBONG: And Abe Vigoda, dressed in a red grandpa sweater and Yoda-like alien ears, walks across the stage. He's the only character who's older and wrinklier than the 900-year-old Yoda. O'BRIEN: (As character) This next character was cut from the new Star Wars movie because whenever he was on camera, he brought the film to a dead halt. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN") This is from a bit called Rejected Star Wars Characters. He made appearances on late-night TV, both Letterman and Conan O'Brien. And for the last decades of his life, his biggest role was playing himself. LIMBONG: Abe Vigoda was a tall guy with hunched-over shoulders and droopy eyes, a distinctive character-actor. You can't stoop over in this neighborhood. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Oh, didn't want to stop and fix it. VIGODA: (As Phil Fish) I broke a shoelace. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) What's wrong with your foot? UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Good morning, Fish.ĪBE VIGODA: (As Phil Fish) Good morning. This is from his role as Fish, a New York City cop in the 1970s sitcom "Barney Miller." LIMBONG: It doesn't really matter if Abe Vigoda really had good rhymes, but he had jokes. Here's NPR's Andrew Limbong on Abe Vigoda, the man and the meme.ĪNDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: There's an early Beastie Boys song that has this really goofy line.īEASTIE BOYS: (Singing) Girl in a castle and one in the pagoda, you know I got rhymes like Abe Vigoda. And since then it's been a sort of running joke with the actor often in on the laughs. His demise was reported in People magazine mistakenly. There has been news before of his death back in 1982. The actor who played Tessio in "The Godfather" and Sgt.
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